MIAMI BEACH, Florida -- The pink pickup truck is gassed up. The shiny metallic trailer is hitched to the back. And Paris Hilton, in a pink and red sundress with a flower in her hair, is posing for cameras on a South Beach hotel balcony.

Let the road trip begin.

In the sequel to Hilton and Nicole Richie's hit Fox reality show "The Simple Life," the socialites-turned-TV stars are driving themselves on a 30-day cross-country trip with no money, credit cards, cell phones or boyfriends.

"I've never been on a road trip anywhere," Hilton, 23, told The Associated Press, sitting in her plush hotel room bed. "The farthest I've driven is from L.A. to Palm Springs, which takes like two hours. It seems fun."

Hilton, the leggy blonde hotel heiress, and Richie, the equally blonde daughter of singer Lionel Richie, helped make the first season of "The Simple Life" a huge success for Fox. The pretty young ladies broke free from their sheltered upbringings, working odd jobs milking cows and hawking burgers at a fast food restaurant while living with a family in ultra-rural Altus, Arkansas, population 817.

They drew laughs from viewers who were amazed that Hilton and Richie had never held a regular job or seen a paycheck, much less knew what to do with one. They did manage to bake a pie, but the family's dog ate most of it before it could be presented at a local festival.

"The worst thing was working at the dairy farm, cause that was, like, our first job," Hilton said. "I hated the cow smell. It was gross."

In "The Simple Life 2," they'll stay with several different families in a continuation of the theme that made the first season a success. Filming was to begin in the next few days; the show airs in June.

"It's going to be definitely more interesting and more adventurous because last time, we were just stuck in Arkansas with a family, but this time it's going to be different families every episode," Hilton says.

A truck and a trailer
Jon Murray, the show's executive producer, says there will be eight episodes. Hilton and Richie will travel throughout the southern United States, towing the live-in trailer from Miami Beach to Beverly Hills. Murray hopes they will again charm TV audiences.

"Paris and Nicole are so full of energy in life," Murray says. "They're outlandish sometimes, they're foolish sometimes, they're a little clueless sometimes, but they really are nice and they're not mean spirited in the fun they're having."

Murray says "the girls" will have jobs set up for them, but will be on their own for almost everything else. They have to deal with their own wardrobes, hair and makeup. If the pickup breaks down, it's their problem. And there'll be plenty of small-town fun, Murray says.

"Everyone likes it because it's for all ages," Hilton says. "People from the city will be like, 'Oh my God, I cannot believe you did that,' and people from the country think it's funny because they do it every day."

Hilton's social life is regular fodder for tabloids, TV shows and Web sites. She also became an inadvertent Internet icon when a homemade sex video she shot with her then-boyfriend circulated online.

But Hilton says the late-night party scene is losing it's appeal.

"I don't like going out anymore. It's not that much fun," Hilton says. "Since the show came out, I can't really have fun anymore because people coming up every minute and, are like, 'Oh, can I have a picture.' ... I really can't even hang out with my friends very much anymore."

While she was well-known as a model before the hit, the show has provided new avenues of work for Hilton. She's recording a CD and has acting jobs lined up.

As for her public image, Hilton says she may be misunderstood.

"People who don't know me or haven't met me they'll assume she's spoiled or this or that," Hilton said. "That's what people will think because of where I come from. Every time I meet someone or people talk to me, they're like "You're completely the opposite of what I thought. You're so sweet."

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Corbin Bernsen, best known for his work on the drama "L.A. Law," has been cast in "Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang," which also stars Val Kilmer and Robert Downey Jr.


"Kiss," which plays fast and loose with some of the conventions of film noir, is the tale of a thief who poses as an actor and then teams up with a private eye and a frustrated actress to solve a murder. Bernsen will play an actor-turned-entrepreneur who may know more about the murder than he lets on.

Shane Black, who wrote the "Lethal Weapon" films, is directing the Warner Bros. Pictures project from his script, which Joel Silver is producing.

Bernsen also starred in "Major League" and was recently seen in the TV movies "The Santa Trap" and "Atomic Twister." He is also writing a comedy titled "3 Day Test."

In a new stage show called "Florida Follies," quintessential TV mom Florence Henderson pours herself into a tight black vinyl miniskirt and bustier -- with whip to match -- for a knowing parody of the all-American housewife.

If indeed Carol Brady had a naughty side, it might look a lot like this saucy, vaudeville-style revue, bankrolled by a group of longtime New York-based theatrical producers. The show, which settled in at the Parker Playhouse last month for a winter run, is a throwback to the old days of variety, when dancing dogs, borscht belt comics, long-legged showgirls and ventriloquists were staples in casinos and big hotels and on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

The cost of turning Mrs. Brady into a whip-cracking dominatrix and all the other original costumes, sets and choreography was $1.5 million. It's an investment the show's producers say will pay off over several seasons here.

"We believe that what audiences want is pure entertainment," said producer Martin Markinson, owner of the Helen Hayes Theater in New York and operator of the Parker Playhouse. "They don't necessarily need a musical with a book."

Markinson, who also runs the Wadsworth Theater in Los Angeles, has produced Tony winners like "Torch Song Trilogy" and said "Follies" is not Broadway bound. In fact, it will likely never tour at all.

"It's a destination show," he said, adding that it is the audience who will bear the cost of the travel to see this production, just as it has for all manner of variety shows in Branson, Mo., and more recently for long-standing concerts in Las Vegas starring Celine Dion and Elton John.

The skyrocketing costs of touring Broadway shows and midsize theatrical productions have left many theaters like the Parker Playhouse dark for weeks at a time in recent years. That's why destination shows like this one -- which require a relatively modest capital investment and only slight refreshing each season -- look to be the way of the future, particularly in markets with lots of tourists and retirees.

"We didn't expect to make money this year, but we've really done what we intended to do," said executive producer Ken Greengrass, who initiated the project. "We've established the 'Florida Follies' as something to see here."

Henderson, a TV icon who -- refreshingly -- never tires of "The Brady Bunch" afterlife, said she was happy to take part in this experiment, primarily because "it was something different."

"For me, I think the best thing is always just around the corner," she said backstage between shows last week. "I really like working. I think I'll retire when I'm 95."

Modeled, particularly in an economic sense, on the long-running "Palm Springs Follies" in California, "Florida Follies" also features a cast of "retired" showgirls (no one under 55 need apply), all veterans of Las Vegas, the Lido, Broadway and so on.

"It's really a celebration of life and energy," said Henderson, who had just completed a run with "Singular Sensations" in New York before joining this cast. "We don't make fun of age. We embrace it. We don't put anyone down. There's very little talk of it."

That the "Follies" performers all look fairly incredible for their ages (or any age) is among the reasons the show is a hit, she said. "I receive mail from people who say: 'This has inspired me so. I'm coming back next week with my mother,"' she said.

In a career spanning five decades -- from an early stint on "Today" to "Later Today" and those indelible commercials for Wesson Oil and Polident -- Henderson is now the host of the Lifetime informational series "Speaking of Women's Health." Still vivacious and quite youthful, she said she works out just about every day and watches what she eats. That there is additional, long-range gold for the "Follies" producers to mine in the cross-promotion of numerous stay-fit, stay-young health products is not lost on her or any of the participants in this show.

"This show will be an annuity for my investors," said Ellen M. Krass, a producing partner. "We are definitely bringing it back next year." A deal to air it on PBS also is in the works.

For her part, Henderson (who also hopes to be back next year) said she doesn't mind at all that much of the allure rests on a raunchy sendup of her sainted TV character.

"'The Brady Bunch' is part of the fabric of my career," she said. "It certainly isn't all of my career. I had one before, and I've done so many things after. But to grow, you have to accept your past. You have to learn to love it. There's always another generation (of TV viewers) coming up. It just seems to mean so much to people. So this has been lots of fun."

FLORENCE, Italy (AP) -- Italy's biggest drawing museum has announced plans to more than double its exhibition space and dramatically increase the number of works on display.

Starting in 2006, the Uffizi Gallery will offer art lovers the opportunity to see 800 additional works, many of which are now stored for lack of space.

The $75 million overhaul is the first comprehensive renewal of the 16th century building in decades. It aims to make better sense of the museum's space. Currently visitors must make a labyrinth-like tour to admire the gallery's priceless collection.

"It's an history-making project, for both the Uffizi and Italy," Culture Minister Giuliano Urbani said at a news conference in the Uffizi's library on Tuesday.

Officials said most of the museum will stay open to the public during the renovation.

Part of the project was unveiled more than a year ago but was put on hold after it provoked an outcry in this Renaissance city. That plan, by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, called for the construction of a seven-story-high, canopy-like structure for a new exit.

"It made no sense to block the entire project only because of the exit," Urbani said.

Construction began on Palazzo degli Uffizi, a U-shaped building that extends from Piazza della Signoria -- the heart of Florence -- to the Arno river, in 1560. Designed by artist and art historian Giorgio Vasari, the palace was completed about 15 years later.

Its art collection has been growing for centuries and has long been one of the greatest in the world. Today, it includes some of the Renaissance's highest achievements and such masterpieces as Botticelli's "Primavera."

These treasures attract some 4,500 visitors a day -- a number officials expect to swell to 7,000 after the renovation.

The number of works on display will soar from the current 1,200 to about 2,000, arranged either chronologically or by school.

"One starts with Cimabue, Giotto, the fathers of Italian art, and then gets to centuries that are closer to us," said Tuscany's top art official, Antonio Paolucci. "The Uffizi is like a textbook of art history."

Among the paintings to come out of storage will be some from the School of Caravaggio, including one by Gentileschi and another by Manfredi as well as a painting attributed to Guido Reni.

Exhibition space will increase from 7,200 square yards to 15,600 square yards. Many of the new rooms are on the first floor, and five or six of them are already due to open in March.

Two new staircases have been planned, one on the eastern wing and the other on the western wing. Both the entrance and the exit will be located on the eastern wing. Separate itineraries will be designed to avoid overlapping of visitors, officials said.

The project also envisages more space between the art works, and improved lighting and security systems. The project is funded in part by Benetton, Italy's clothing giant.

TORONTO - Canadian politicians are denouncing "The Late Show with Conan O'Brien" over a sketch in which a cigar-chomping sock puppet hurled insults at French Canadians.


The NBC show came to Toronto last week with the help of $750,000 in Canadian taxpayers' money, a trip that Canadian promoters hoped would help rebuild the city's tourist industry after an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome last year.

In the pre-taped skit that aired Thursday night, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog confronted visitors to Quebec City's Winter Carnival.

When one couple confirmed they were French Canadian separatists, the grouchy puppet said, "Listen closely. Hear that? It's the sound of no one giving a," followed by an expletive bleep.

"You're in North America, learn the language!" he hollered at another.

Triumph asked a rotund man if he was a separatist, then suggested he might want to separate himself from doughnuts for a while. The skit also replaced street signs with insulting replicas, including one that mocked Canadian singer Celine Dion.

Mauril Belanger, the deputy government house leader, told the House of Commons Friday that the government was not amused. He said Ottawa completely dissociated itself from the material.

Alexa McDonough, a member of Parliament for the New Democratic Party, said the sketch was "vile and vicious" and amounted to hate-mongering. McDonough said the government should demand its money back.

"The whole point of trying to help deal with the devastation of the SARS crisis on the city of Toronto was to attract tourists," McDonough said. "How it got morphed into this kind of garbage I don't know."

Chum Television, which airs the show in Canada, issued an apology and removed the segment in a repeat broadcast.

"It is never our intention to air programming that offends any of our viewers," the network said.

NBC has declined comment, and O'Brien mentioned the topic only in passing in his monologue during the taping of the final Toronto show on Friday afternoon.

Guest Jim Carrey, a Canadian, later offered O'Brien a subtle opportunity to apologize by bringing on the mascot for the winter carnival, but O'Brien didn't take the bait.

Separatism and French language rights are a sensitive issue in Canada, especially after Quebec separatists nearly won a 1995 referendum to set up their own country.

Canada's current government is immersed in a scandal over allegations that Quebec advertising agencies were paid $75 million in illegal commissions to confront the separatist threat.

"It's wrong to spread the worst possible ethnic prejudices about Quebecers, which already exist in Canada," said Jean Dorion, president of the Quebec nationalist Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society.

But businessman Peter Soumalias, said who helped bring the New York-based show to Toronto, said Canadians were taking the show too seriously.

"It's a silly puppet that tells silly jokes," Soumalias said. "Most people find it funny."